The present invention relates to the field of materials management, and more particularly to systems designed for containing, transferring, delivering and dispensing various materials. The material management system of the invention is configured to deliver contamination free streams from a vessel that can be emptied and refilled repeatedly, without intervening cleaning of the vessel or its components.
The world has experienced a movement toward more environmentally friendly product packaging, which has gained momentum recently as the world begins to appreciate the ever-growing presence of non-biodegradable waste in the landfills and areas of waste disposal. Companies have tried to explore new options for controlling the amount of waste and costs associated with containers of products purchased every day. Packaging of products, including foods, beverages, personal care products, and the like are a prime candidate for further action to protect the environment.
Personal care products, such as lotions, creams, hair care products, cosmetics, and the like have been slow to move toward a more environmentally friendly packaging. This may be because the industry is, to a large extent, packaging driven, with the commercial success of many products a direct result of the public's affection for the packaging that accompanies the product rather than the quality of the product itself. Companies that sell colognes, perfumes, eye make-up, cosmetic creams, etc. may spend much more capital on the response of potential customers to their packaging than their products. As a result, cosmetics and personal care products companies have resisted the movement to more environmentally friendly packaging, leading to significant waste and a higher cost to both the manufacturer and the customer for repeated purchasing of the same packaging. The present invention is directed to methods for increasing awareness and providing such companies with an easy to introduce marketing technique and system to convert consumers to a refillable container system for personal care products.
Transfer of products such as creams, lotions, and soaps (among other types of viscous liquids) has long presented a problem for the manufacturers who make and sell these products. Prior known material management systems have encountered difficulty transferring from a containment vessel certain thick, viscous fluids, liquids and other types of materials that may resist pumping and that can be damaging to pumping apparatus. As used herein, a fluid is a substance that is capable of flowing from one container or system to a second and that changes its shape at a steady rate when acted upon by a force tending to change its shape. Certain materials, while normally not considered to be fluids, also can be made to flow under certain conditions, for example, soft solids and semi-solids. Vast quantities of fluids are used in transportation, manufacturing, farming, mining, and industry. Thick fluids, viscous fluids, semi-solid fluids, visco-elastic products, pastes, gels and other fluid materials that are not easy to dispense from fluid sources (for example, pressure vessels, open containers, supply lines, etc.) comprise a sizable portion of the fluids utilized. These fluids include thick and/or viscous chemicals and other such materials, for example, lubricating greases, adhesives, sealants and mastics. In the food processing industry, cheeses, creams, food pastes and the like must be moved from point to point without degrading the food's quality and freshness. In the manufacture and use of industrial chemicals and pharmaceutical products, hard to move fluids that are thick and/or viscous are commonly used. The ability to transport these materials from one place to another, for example, from a container to a manufacturing or processing site, and in a manner that protects the quality of the material, is of vital importance.
Delivering and dispensing thick and/or viscous materials present a challenge because these materials resist flowing and are not easily dispensed or moved out of their containers. Prior known methods of delivering viscous fluids have concentrated on establishing and maintaining a fluid tight seal between pushing pistons or follower plates, and side walls of the containers of viscous materials. These devices, however, are highly susceptible to disruption if the sidewalls of the viscous material container become out-of-round or dented. Moreover, some systems require high precision in all its parts, and require relatively bulky and expensive equipment. Furthermore, most known systems for material transport of fluids require the use of an external pump with a container having a follower plate. Moreover, the pump and follower plate are connected or otherwise coupled so as to increase the expense and mechanical sophistication of such material transfer systems.
Heretofore known vessels and containers were basic moderate-high-pressure vessels having characteristics that were deficient in transferring difficult to move materials. For example, such vessels often were relatively heavy, mild steel, converted air receivers. Other such vessels were merely thin-walled, special steel alloy, converted propane tanks. Accordingly, the vessels were manufactured under DOT regulations, and therefore required relatively frequent re-certification. Such containers also were susceptible to internal rusting, and often were closed, and therefore difficult to clean. Furthermore, the containers were not bimodal (for liquids and/or thick fluids). In addition, past container internals consisted of only one internal subsystem, a follower device that had a single function, to prevent high-pressure gas bypassing. These follower devices were difficult to fabricate, relatively expensive, rust-prone and could not wipe the vessel walls, even if desired by the user. Many such systems contained heavy “ballast” that was not modifiable after fabrication and were easily canted (tipped) if container was placed on its side.
One disclosed reusable viscous material dispensing apparatus system includes a follower boat having a lower hull portion that is weighted with ballast. The diameter of the boat is smaller than the inner diameter of the cylinder, such that the boat floats in a cylinder filled with viscous materials, such as thick lubricating greases. In use of the system, the cylinder is filled with a viscous material through its ingress and egress opening. By applying compressed gas to the boat from above, the boat attempts to force the viscous material out of the container through a common ingress and egress opening, until the bottom of the boat seats on and blocks the opening. However, the disclosed container is configured as a vertical, closed, pressure vessel that may be difficult to clean. Moreover, the disclosed boat is a single-function (prevents gas bypass), heavy, difficult to manufacture apparatus.
A system was developed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/219,221 whereby a refillable material transfer system was proposed that could dispense a highly viscous fluid from a reusable vessel to a point of use. The system used a material transfer system that dispensed only the required amount of material without waste, an important feature to customers and manufacturers alike. Because certain chemicals are sensitive to contamination of one form or another, the system had the further advantage in that the material transfer system is sealed, protecting product quality and allowing aseptic transfer of the product to the consumer refillable packaging without opening the container to contamination.
The system utilized a hand-held refillable material transfer system that is configured to move highly viscous materials from a point of manufacture to a point of use. The material transfer system is configured to dispense only the required amount of material without waste, which is especially important when fluids or materials are not easily handled and cannot be transmitted easily or safely from container to container without unwanted exposure. Preferably, such a material transfer system would reduce or eliminate costs and expenses attendant to using traditional disposable personal packaging as well as the waste of material associated with most existing systems. Because certain materials are sensitive to contamination of one form or another, such a material transfer system may be sealed or closed system to protect product quality and allow sampling without exposing the container to contamination. This provides an allocation of product quality to either the supplier or the user. A refillable material transfer system may further be configured to use low cost components, non-pulsating solution for dispensing and transferring thick fluids and other such materials.
While the foregoing system enjoyed many benefits and advantages over prior art systems, it did not satisfactorily meet the needs of every retail situation. For example, it is questionable whether the previous system could accommodate the smaller-sized consumer product material (fluid) transport containers in the refill station as would be present in some retail environments. Some examples of the sizes of the smaller-sized refill bottles are similar to typical 5 (“sachet”/single-dose size), 50, and 100 milliliter consumer bottles, cans, and tubes. The system is also not well suited for filling larger-sized consumer product material (fluid) transport containers in the refill station in a retail environment, such as laundry detergent sized containers and the like. The functional limitation on the size of refill bottles that can be filled and refilled in the refill station in a retail environment is based on several following limitations.
The first is the size of the refill station. The size of, or physical space envelope occupied by, the refill station in a retail environment has certain limitations. One example of these limitations is based on the refill station “competing” with numerous other consumer products for floor space or shelf space on the “sales floor” in a retail environment. One example of this limitation is the previous “tower” refill station embodiment was limited to 2 feet length×2 feet width×7 feet height. A second limitation is the weight of the refill cartridge. The weight of the full refill cartridge that must be replaced on occation at a refill station in a retail environment can in certain situations be a safety hazard. That is, the weight of filled refill cartridge an employee (or employees) in a retail environment can safely, and with certain ease and precision, ergonomically lift, carry, reach, lower, and insert inside the refill station, without material handling equipment can be problematic. For example, a 2 gallon refill cartridge can weigh over 20 pounds or more depending upon the product and may also be unwieldy or difficult to carry and manipulate into position.
In addition, the quantity of refill cartridges that can fit, be integrated with, and accessed in the refill station holding/dispensing multiple consumer product materials (fluids) in a retail environment is limited. One example of this limitation is the previous refill station embodiment which could hold/dispense up to thirty different product materials (fluids) based on the one or three liter refill cartridges. Moreover, depending upon the consumer traffic and product movement, the change-out or replacement frequency of replacing an empty refill cartridges with a full cartridge in the refill station in a retail environment is both a distraction to customers and a disruption to business.
What would be advantageous is a system that shares the benefits of the previous system but overcomes the shortcomings above by eliminating some of the limitations of the cartridge replaced refill station in the retail environment. The present invention seeks to overcome the disadvantages of the prior system and advance the art with a novel and improved system of dispensing product in a retail environment.